'Larger than life' civil rights icon honored with statue in Capitol

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Obama unveils a statue of Rosa Parks

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Story highlights

Rosa Parks is first African-American woman to be honored with a statue in Statuary Hall

President Obama praised Parks' lasting effects on the lives of all Americans

Her refusal to give her seat up acted as a catalyst of the Montgomery Bus Boycott

Had it not been for Rosa Parks and others of her era, President Barack Obama said he wouldn't be unveiling a bronze statue of the civil rights icon in the U.S. Capitol.

"We can do no greater honor ... than to carry forward her principle of courage born of conviction," Obama said at a ceremony on Wednesday.

Fifty-eight years after she refused to give up her seat to a white man on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks became the first African-American woman to be honored with a full length statue in National Statuary Hall.

Legacy of Rosa Parks 11 photos

Legacy of Rosa Parks11 photos

Legacy of Rosa Parks – Monday, February 4, marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks. Parks, who died at 92 in 2005, became one of the major symbols of the modern civil rights movement when she was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955 after refusing to give up her seat in the black section of a city bus to a white passenger. For 381 days, African-Americans boycotted public transportation to protest Parks' arrest and, in turn, segregation laws. The boycott led to a Supreme Court ruling desegregating public transportation in Montgomery and catapulted its organizer, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., to the forefront of the civil rights movement.

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Legacy of Rosa Parks11 photos

Legacy of Rosa Parks – Parks sits for her booking photo after her arrest for refusing to give up her bus seat on December 1, 1955. She was later convicted of disorderly conduct.

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Legacy of Rosa Parks11 photos

Legacy of Rosa Parks – Parks works as a seamstress in February 1956, shortly after the beginning of the Montgomery bus boycott.

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Legacy of Rosa Parks11 photos

Legacy of Rosa Parks – Parks rides on a newly integrated bus in 1956 following the court ruling desegregating Montgomery's public transportation. It wasn't until the 1964 Civil Rights Act that all public accommodations nationwide were desegregated.

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Legacy of Rosa Parks11 photos

Legacy of Rosa Parks – Parks, far right, joins Coretta Scott King, left, the widow of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and the Rev. Ralph Abernathy as they lead 19,000 people on a march through downtown Memphis, Tennessee, on April 8, 1968, four days after King's death.

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Legacy of Rosa Parks11 photos

Legacy of Rosa Parks – The Rev. Jesse Jackson shows solidarity with Parks at the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta in 1988. Jackson had been a candidate in the Democratic primaries that year.

Legacy of Rosa Parks – Morgan Freeman joins Parks at a film premiere party for "Amistad" in 1997.

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Legacy of Rosa Parks – Parks, then 88, attends a 2001 ceremony at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, commemorating the 46th anniversary of her 1955 arrest.

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Legacy of Rosa Parks – Free copies of a commemorative issue of The Montgomery Advertiser get handed out before a memorial service for Parks on October 28, 2005, in Montgomery. Parks had died four days earlier at age 92.

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Legacy of Rosa Parks11 photos

Legacy of Rosa Parks – Parks' casket lies in honor in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on October 30, 2005, in Washington. The civil rights icon was the first woman and the second African-American to lie in honor in the Capitol Rotunda.

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The statue shows Parks sitting with her hands folded neatly in her lap, reminiscent of the day of her arrest.

Her action echoed Martin Luther King Jr's notion that civil disobedience could be effective in challenging segregation.

"The tired feet of those who walked the dusty roads of Montgomery helped a nation see that to which it had once been blind. It is because of these men and women that I stand here today," Obama said. "It is because of them that our children grow up in a land more free and more fair. A land truer to its founding creed, and that is why this statue belongs in this hall."

Obama was joined at the unveiling by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker John Boehner and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Despite rising acrimony between Obama and congressional Republicans over the forced government spending cuts set to go into effect on Friday, Obama kept his remarks focused on Parks' legacy. He praised her courage and the lasting effects of her actions. Congressional leaders did the same.

The National Statuary Hall Collection consists of two sculptures gifted from each of the 50 states. They honor distinguished people throughout U.S. history, including several presidents.

Parks' statue was authorized by a special act of Congress that was introduced two days after her death in 2005.